Little Wisps in Little Boys
by You Light The Sky
Summary: Exorcising spirits is not Tsuna's forte. Running away from them and locking himself in his house is. But then he meets Reborn and learns that there's more to spirits than just malice (or rather, they get into some disagreement over killing or befriending said spirits). Then there's the Vongola and the Seven Reapers who want to use him... Hints of All/27, R27, X27
1. Alone Boy: Reaper Blood

AN: My first KHR fic... the pairings are tentatively hints of All/27, sort of R27 and sort of X27. I hope you like it!

Disclaimer (for the entire story): I don't own KHR. It belongs to Akira Amano and Shounen Jump.

**Part 1: Alone Boy**

**Episode 1: Reaper Blood**

On Monday morning, Tsuna wakes up and there's a baby in a suit, standing on his chest. A baby with a fedora on his head. Also holding a gun. The baby, that is.

Tsuna stares. The baby stares. They both stare.

"Ciaossu," says the baby, "I am Reborn, the afterlife's number one exorcist and hitman, now your live-in home tutor. I'll be training you to exterminate and control all spirits in this realm as the head of the Vongola clan."

Tsuna only stares some more. Maybe if he lays very still and pretends that he's still sleepy, then this particular apparition will leave him alone (as is Tsuna's plan for most spiritual encounters.) If he's lucky, he'll never see this… baby-spirit-thing again. Yup. Back to sleep.

Except then he hears the click of ammo jumping eagerly into the cockpit of a pistol and Tsuna only just opens his eyes to see the mouth of the pistol pointed at his forehead before he dodges just in time to miss the bullet hole that now graces his favourite pillow.

"_Hieee?!_" Tsuna backs away from the bullet hole and the baby, blankets pulled up against his nose as if they could protect him from the dead (but, oh, Tsuna knows very well they can't.) "W-What did y-you do that f-for?!"—and then—"Oh my god, you're _real?!"_

Another bullet whizzes towards him and Tsuna falls off his bed to miss it. He winces and rolls around, clutching his knee while staring forlornly at the new hole in his wall. Oh well, his idiot father makes enough money to pay for that (god knows how) but back to the point—

The baby or Reborn or whatever-he-is crosses his little arms together and smirks down at Tsuna. How a smirk from such a small adorable thing can be defined as the most terrifying image in Tsuna's existence, well, Tsuna has no freaking idea and Tsuna has seen some freaky things.

"Yes, idiot-Tsuna, I am corporal and can be seen by other living beings. If I choose to. I am not like the everyday spirits that you can see."

"How—"

"I know everything. Get used to it. And your father's side of the family has been involved in the exorcism business for generations," Reborn's smile becomes eerie, "…you could say that they make a great profit out of it… especially in the criminal world if you understand my meaning…"

Suddenly several odd things that Tsuna has always ignored begin to connect together. His father's odd jobs. How his parents were never bothered by Tsuna talking to his 'imaginary' friends. How Nana never called him a liar (unlike the other kids at school and strangers at the market) when he started playing with someone who wasn't there. The lectures his father gave sometimes about never going near any gruesome crime scenes… to let the 'family' take care of it…

"Y-y-you mean my dad's part of some sort of… of… exorcist mafia?!"

"Yup."

In retrospect, Tsuna should have seen this coming.

* * *

><p>"I don't want any part of this," Tsuna says after he recovers from his fainting spell and has enough tea to balance his senses. Never go outside without a good cup of tea, Nana always tells him and Tsuna supposes that the habit has rubbed off on him.<p>

"The Vongola family has profited from capturing and controlling the most dangerous spirits to do their bidding for them. Europe would be a plague of evil spirits if not for the Vongola. They are the most powerful family. Their spiritual powers give them the advantage in their business with the criminal world," Reborn lectures him, drinking yet another cup of expresso (and is that even allowed for babies, Tsuna wants to blurt but he knows better. Reborn is no infant.)

"Are you even listening to me?!" Tsuna scowls. He looks to Nana for some help but his mum giggles to herself and hands him a bowl of miso soup. "You can't be serious. I can't be a mafia boss or an exorcist leader or whatever you're talking about. I can barely keep dangerous ghosts away from me when I'm outside. It's no good. You should get someone else."

When Tsuna's cup seems to explode from Reborn's bullet and hot tea spills all over Tsuna's shirt and lap, Tsuna doesn't know why he's even surprised anymore.

"Now Reborn-chan," Nana crosses her arms, "that is not a nice way to play. My favourite cups are ruined now and Tsuna could have been burned!"

Apparently the little demon has _some_ form of good manners, at least for mothers, because Reborn bows his head. "I sincerely apologize, Mama. Next time, I will make sure to keep the collateral from Tsuna's… discipline… to a minimum."

Nana only nods and gushes about how adorable Reborn is.

"Mum, are you just going to go along with this?!" Tsuna stands up.

"Well," Nana tilts her head, "it's not my place to interfere… Your papa always said that you'd take over the family business and that I shouldn't get involved…"

"Dad hasn't been home in _years_! What does he know about the qualifications for this… head boss Decimo thing anyways?! If he actually remembered that he had a family maybe he'd see that his _son_ can't do anything let alone run a criminal organization! I can't believe you're taking his side again!" Tsuna shouts before he squeaks and clamps his hands over his mouth.

He looks fretfully at Nana, whose smile of frozen sunshine seems to wobble against her face.

"Mum… I…" his hands want to tremble against his lips. "I'm sorry. I… I'll just clean this up…" Tsuna reaches over towards the shards from the broken tea cup and sweeps them into his hands, ignoring the cuts they create against his skin.

"Tsuna…"

"No," Tsuna quietly shakes his head, avoiding Nana and Reborn's stares. "It's alright. I can clean it."

They don't speak as Tsuna throws away the shards and then washes his hands of the blood and broken bits of clay. He stares at the tiles of the kitchen like they will speak back to him to replace the heavy silence as he rushes out the door with his backpack.

* * *

><p>A massive ooze of eyeballs and hands slithers across Tsuna's path as he runs down the street. But unlike every other day, Tsuna doesn't scream and hide behind a stop sign. He doesn't try to stifle his screams so as to not draw attention to the monstrous things that haunt his neighbourhood. For once, he runs past them as if he can't see them at all.<p>

"…Why did I say that…?" Tsuna wants to bury himself in the deepest parts of the ocean and never resurface. "Mum hasn't done anything wrong…"

But still, all these years of seeing the unnatural and Nana couldn't say anything to him? Couldn't reassure him and take the time to explain things? Tsuna's shoulders shake as he tries to stop the burning in his eyes. Mum had to have her reasons, Tsuna tries to tell himself, even if they were unbelievable and relied on his no-good father…

"That was rude of you, Dame-Tsuna, leaving me behind," says a presence that lands on his head.

Tsuna shrieks and tries to wave it away, only to be smacked on the hand. "Ow! What are you—Reborn?! But I just…" he looks back down the street. It's been four blocks, "…and you were…?"

"I'm coming to school with you, idiot," Reborn remarks from his perch on Tsuna's head.

"What?! But why?! People are going to see you! And ow!"

"Don't sort me into your mortal standards, Dame-Tsuna. I don't belong to any of the living or non-living realms. I can make myself be seen by will… except for those of your blood, with the Sight. No one without the Sight will see me unless I wish it. Now onwards, slave," Reborn taps against Tsuna's ears with his pistol. "Show me what a typical day of your meaningless existence is like."

"Do I even have a choice?"

"No."

Right. Stupid question.

Tsuna glances around and notices, finally, the gathering of disfigured and mis-mashed spirits that have gathered around him. His hand rushes up and Tsuna nearly bits his fingers as he tries not to shout. Instead he freezes in the middle of the street, eyes darting back and forth at the usual guests around him.

Old man Minami who died three weeks ago in a brutal car accident waves lazily at him. A high school girl who was chopped to pieces, dangles her torn leg at him, waiting for any reaction that he can _see_ her. Construction workers that were buried to death all slushed together like a child's figurines of play-do crushed back into a ball.

He has to fight the urge to vomit as he shuts his eyes tight and walks forward.

"What's wrong?" Reborn remarks from above. "Is this why you miss so much school?"

Tsuna doesn't answer. Doesn't want to think of countless days where he collapsed in the middle of the road and stayed at home, sick for a week, because so many spirits wanted to touch him, wanted to steal back vitality. (_Come on, boy, just another sip, another touch. You have so much life in you and you're so young, you don't need it all, come on, just another sip for Auntie…_) Or the days where he hid in the park and curled up against the slide, waiting for Haru to come.

"Yeah," he says. "Sometimes."

Reborn snorts. "You have the Sight. You should be used to this."

Tsuna stops in his tracks.

"How can _anyone_ get used to this?!" he gestures to the blood, to the limbs and distorted human features.

"Well, with the amount of gory films that your generation seems to enjoy watching—"

"No one should be _used_ to looking at this!" Tsuna shouts. "That's not right! We _should_ be shocked by corpses and blood. We _should_ be terrified. How can I just walk past this and be okay? How can I walk past them and not wonder how they died? Or if I'm next?"

The being on his head stills, "…Tsuna…" but it's too late.

They've heard him. The other spirits. There's no way that Tsuna can cover up his outburst for anything less than acknowledgement of their existence. They gaze at Tsuna which such hunger and shock that Tsuna's surprised that he hasn't been devoured immediately.

He shrinks back, "I… I didn't mean… please just leave me alone…!"

But they inch closer, almost reverently. _You see us_, they seem to moan all at once, _you see us, you see us, you see us…_

Reborn suddenly jumps off Tsuna's head and hovers in front of Tsuna protectively. Tsuna gapes as Reborn's infant form seems to… grow… into the shape of a tall man, all in black, and a deep, frightening voice tells Tsuna to look away. Look away or be shot.

Of course Tsuna does. (What was that story Nana used to tell him about? Yes, Orpheus and Eurydice, the man who walked into the underworld to bring back his wife but all he had to do to keep her was _don't look back. _But he did, foolish man, and Tsuna is too scared to look back even if part of him excitedly whispers _look, look, you have to look_.)

The inhuman shrieks of the spirits seem to carve themselves into Tsuna's very bones.

* * *

><p>"What… what was <em>that?!<em>" Tsuna says from the ground. He tries to get up. He really does, but he can't seem to. Everything is cold and he can't feel his fingers and he saw light from the corner of his eyes, jagged red light devouring shadows…

"Exorcism. Or the execution of corrupted spirits," Reborn remarks, small and adorable again (but never innocent, Tsuna will feel that killing intent from Reborn for the rest of his life.)

"That… I've _never_ seen an exorcism like that!"

Well, Tsuna has never seen a live exorcism at all but Reborn probably knows that.

"I thought I told you to look away…" a promise of something bloody crawls into Reborn's voice and Tsuna shakes his head vigorously.

"I didn't! Look, that is! I just saw from the corner of my eye and I could feel… I could feel their beings being just…" _annihilated, _Tsuna doesn't say. He shivers. Whatever those souls had become, they didn't deserve that fate; no one deserved it. "That wasn't normal," Tsuna ends up saying instead.

Reborn's eyes gleam and Tsuna shivers. Burning souls and spirits gleam in those eyes. Their shrieks. "That was the original and true method of exorcism by the seven reapers of the crossroads. What you felt were the reaper flames."

"…Reaper flames?"

"Flames that can end a soul's existence or purify them into heaven. Flames that let you see the dead and give you a connection with spirits," Reborn nods as tiny flickers of red flames twist and slither between his fingers. "This is why you've been chosen as Decimo."

"No," Tsuna shakes his head, "I don't have that, I don't!"

Reborn blows a tongue of hot fire towards Tsuna's face and Tsuna jumps back in shock.

"Idiot. Don't you see? Those with Vongola blood are the _only_ human exorcists that use the _true_ method of exorcism. Only you and those with your bloodline can use these flames to perform true exorcism. All other exorcists use wilder and unreliable methods of controlling the occult. None are as effective as the Vongola. The Primo was said to be have been the child of a reaper and a mortal, after all," Reborn shrugs. "Apparently reaper blood is still strong even ten generations later."

Tsuna stares down at his hands, trying to imagine fire flowing in his veins, burning him up.

"But I can't… I've never made that sort of thing happen…"

"That's why I'll be training you, Dame-Tsuna. The Vongola family need you to become a well-trained exorcist, to be able to kill any spirits you encounter so that you can kill a certain… pest… for them back in Italy," Reborn hops up onto Tsuna's shoulder.

"Wait, what pest?" Tsuna wants to run back home and hide while he still can. He tries to imagine the spirits they faced earlier and having to kill more of them just seems…

Reborn hits him on the ear again. "You don't need to concern yourself with that for now, Dame-Tsuna. You couldn't fight that pest if you even tried in your current state."

"What makes you think that I'll agree to you teaching me?!" Tsuna demands, feeling his earlier anger rush back. Those screams, that red flame just eating and eating and the feeling of _nothing, _of just _empty space_ instead of those unpleasant beings just—

"Because you don't want to be scared anymore," Reborn replies, "do you, Tsuna?"

Tsuna feels his mouth go dry.

"I could teach you to protect yourself. You wouldn't have to be afraid to walk to school anymore. You wouldn't be called a liar anymore either, if you played your cards right. Who knows? Maybe your grades would go up because you wouldn't have to worry about this spirit nonsense anymore. No more spirits."

An uncomfortable feeling swims into his chest, clutching at Tsuna's heart and clawing at his lungs.

No more spirits.

What would that even mean for him? A normal life. Does he even know how to have one? Being able to look his classmates and teachers in the eye without seeing their ghosts and being pushed around for spreading 'rumours.' Being able to tell Nana about his day without omitting anything. Seeing her smile about his day and not feeling guilty.

He'd be normal. Fixed. (Almost.)

"I…"

"Hurry up, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn slaps the back of his neck. "You're going to be late for school."

Tsuna swallows down the tangled and prickly answer in his throat and nods. He can't help but scan the rest of the street for any more monstrous spirits but Reborn just hisses impatiently.

"I'm here to handle anyone that tries to touch my student. Now go!"

He jumps and dashes towards the corner, letting the wind wipe away the wetness on his cheeks. For all of Reborn's abuse, Tsuna is grateful that the baby doesn't mention how red Tsuna's eyes are when he finally arrives in class and the baby sits down on his desk to face him.

"Here," Tsuna folds up his jacket and puts it on the corner of his desk; he'll think about what he said to Nana, about this spirit stuff later, "this will be more comfortable to sit on."

Reborn only smiles.


	2. Alone Boy: His Only Friend

**Part 1: Alone Boy**

**Episode 2: His Only Friend**

Tsuna is always running. That's how anyone would describe him. Running. Always running. If not that, then 'sick' at home, locked up in his room.

He comes home with cuts and bruises from tripping or getting clawed by the broken edges of a fence or branch. Bullies don't catch Tsuna anymore. He's run so much and been all over town that he knows the best hiding places from spirits and his flight-mode just has him rushing away from any sign of danger.

Getting caught means blood or collapsing in the streets again. Getting caught means seeing Nana upset and talking angrily into the phone again while Tsuna tries to tell her that he's fine, it's all fine and she doesn't need to tell Dad (the old man doesn't care anyways) and he's so sorry for worrying her.

He's never met anyone good while running. Tsuna thinks that he misses worlds of time and news with his lifestyle. He barely knows what's on television or who the trendiest celebrities are. His classmates' faces swirl together as a murky unity as Tsuna is always on guard for the next ghost. He doesn't remember any of their names (except Yamamoto and Hibari, distinct in their personalities) maybe because he can't stand disappointment.

(_Who are you talking to, Sawada?) _

_(What—liar! There's no one there, stop playing this game, I don't like it!)_

_(That Tsuna is always by himself, whispering… I think he curses us basically…)_

_(Ignore them. You don't need them, Tsunayoshi-kun, I can be your friend… here, come closer, you're so warm. Promise me that you won't leave me…! __**Promise**__!_)

"Hey are you alright?"

Tsuna nearly trips at the voice and stares warily at a girl in one of the private school uniforms that Tsuna's seen in the neighbourhood. He doesn't quite know how to react to her staring, usually when people stare at him they mean to jeer or throw paper balls at him. So Tsuna just looks back at the ground and the patterns of stone tiles beneath his feet and starts counting them in his head.

"Hey, did you hear me? I was talking to you, you know!"

This time Tsuna just blinks in disbelief.

"Really?"

The girl doesn't look impressed.

"Ah. Sorry!" Tsuna bows his head. "It's just… I'm pretty infamous around here and people don't usually like to talk to me…" unless they're dead, "…so I wasn't sure if you were actually… um. Sorry! I didn't mean to be rude."

He can't help but peek over to the side and shiver when he sees the crowd of ghosts muttering back and forth at the corner. Waiting for him. The girl makes a noise with her throat that makes Tsuna jump and look back at her in guilt.

If anything, Tsuna expects the girl to just nod and continue on with her day. Tsuna is being pretty rude and avoidant. But no. Her face just lights up with delight as she throws her arms around him and exclaims, "So you can see them too?! That's great!"

"H-huh?!" Tsuna stills, finding the embrace of another human being alien unless they're Nana.

"Haru is so glad to find someone who can _see_. This one's name is Haru Miura. What's your name?"

Tsuna opens and closes his mouth several times, his voice suffering from a meltdown of overwhelming emotions. What is he feeling right now? Is it possible? Is there really someone just like him? Someone else who can see, like him?

Miura pokes him insistently in the forehead until he splutters out, "Ah, it's T-Tsuna… T-Tsuna Sawada. Ah, but how did y-you… know that I-I c-can, w-well… that I-I c-can…"

Her smile, so bright when she embraced him, washes away as she stares off into the distance. At the other ghosts and monsters lurking up and down the street. The change is so dramatic that Tsuna wants to hit himself for bringing up the question. How could he? If Haru is anything like him then…

"I'm sorry!" Tsuna bows again, "I shouldn't have asked! You must have been bullied as well and I guess you must have noticed that I was looking at _them_ when I was running, right?"

"Ah, yes," Haru sniffs. "They used to tease Haru too…" and Tsuna wants to comfort her somehow but he doesn't have the words. Why does he have to be so useless when it comes to this? Life should come with a manual for these situations but even then, Tsuna suspects that he'd be dead last in that subject.

Just when Tsuna is about to awkwardly offer to treat her, she smiles again, even brighter than before.

"Ah, but that's all fine and over! Haru has you to talk to now, Tsuna! This will be our little secret," she winks and Tsuna can't help but agree.

Because in that moment, suddenly seeing spirits is something… normal. At least for him and Haru.

* * *

><p>Tsuna's classmates won't stop giving him scathing glances. Tsuna doesn't really blame them. He'd probably be annoyed too if some random kid in his class kept talking to himself and crying out in random bursts of pain. Courtesy of the invisible tutor-that-was-probably-a-reaper sitting on said student's desk, of course. Not that anybody knew that part.<p>

"Could you stop shooting me every time I get something wrong in class?" Tsuna hisses to Reborn.

"Nope," says Reborn, lying back on the comfortable seat Tsuna made with his school jacket. "Negative reinforcement with positive reinforcement helps the mind."

"_Since when have you ever used positive reinforcement, you sadist—_"

"When I don't shoot you."

"Urgh," Tsuna slams his forehead against his textbook. "Now everyone's going to think I'm creepier than usual."

"You can have your future guardians smite them for you, now pay attention to what Sasagawa-sensei is saying, idiot!"

"Ow, ow, alright!" Tsuna grumbles, turning back towards what his teacher is writing on the board. He glances at the door and squeaks when he sees Hibari-sempai walking past in the hallway. Probably psychic to any forms of misconduct, Hibari-sempai pauses outside the door window and glares at Tsuna until Tsuna returns to staring at Sasagawa-sensei's lecture.

Honestly, every time something goes wrong, Hibari is always there to scare a student into submission.

* * *

><p>The bell rings for lunch and Tsuna tunes out the usual whispers of 'that no-good Tsuna!' and 'Did you hear him speak out in class? So weird!' He focuses on putting his notes into his bad instead.<p>

Familiar laughter dances above him and he can't help but smile a little when he sees Yamamoto laughing with his baseball teammates. Even if Yamamoto calls Tsuna Dame as well, he's nicer than the other students. At least he says hello to Tsuna occasionally, even if the smile he gives to Tsuna is the same shallow one that he gives to everyone else.

With a light hum, Tsuna offers Reborn his shoulder and the baby hops on, nodding his approval, "I see you've accepted your place, idiot student of mine."

Tsuna rolls his eyes, "You wish. Ow! I mean, I'll go along with it for now but that doesn't mean I accept what you're training me for!"

"Hmph! I'm surprised you're able to learn in this school at all with your phobia," Reborn comments. "You've got stronger nerves than I thought. Good job."

"What?" Tsuna frowns as he races up the stairs. The floors are surprisingly pristine today. Best to avoid eye contact with all potential bullies and any ghostly monsters that might have floated into the school. "Well yeah. School is usually alright for me. I never really run into any spirits here. But you never know…"

"I see…" Reborn says in an odd tone.

"No running in the halls," a voice hisses by Tsuna's ear and Tsuna yelps as he stumbles against the water fountain.

Hibari is as menacing as ever, stalking down the hallways with his tonfas and just breathing out killing intent like a Cerberus from hell. Tsuna brings his hands up in prayer.

"Ah! Sorry, Hibari, please don't bite me! I didn't mean to do it, I swear! It's just the bullies and—whoa!" Tsuna dodges one of Hibari's attacks and ducks towards the garbage cans, ignoring other students' whispers of 'Dame-Tsuna is screwing around again!'

Sometimes Tsuna wonders why he bothers dodging anymore. Everyone knows that Hibari won't stop until 'appropriate' punishment is given out. He slows his movements and gives the appropriate response when one of the tonfas hits his shoulder (a lot of terror and pain.)

Tsuna doesn't even bother ducking before Hibari grabs Tsuna's shirt and growls out, "Don't misbehave again, herbivore or I'll bite you to death."

"Yes, okay, I promise I won't run in the halls again—!"

The grip tightens.

"—and I'll pay attention in class!"

Hibari lowers his grip on Tsuna's shirt and glances at Tsuna's shoulder where Reborn sits before he narrows his eyes and stalks away.

Tsuna just leans his head back against the wall, tries to shut himself off from the snickers of his schoolmates before he attempts to stand up again.

"You don't seem to have any friends, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn finally speaks up. "Loner or shunned?"

"I hope that's a rhetorical question."

"Maybe you should stop getting caught by that butcher in public. Other mortals might feel sorrier for you and approach you then," Reborn says in a faux cheerfulness that makes Tsuna groan.

"I can't avoid Hibari. No one can. He's always there whenever a student misbehaves and he gives me a headache whenever he's around. Does he always want to kill someone?! They call him the curse of Namimori High I think…"

"Some interesting presences at your school here, Dame-Tsuna. Perhaps you should talk more with them."

Tsuna's nose scrunches up in confusion. "Are you trying to get me to make friends with Hibari or something, Reborn? Because that's not happening," Tsuna shivers, "Ever."

Hibari is terrifying. Why would Reborn even make such a suggestion? And what's with all these questions, it's almost like… oh.

"Look, I'm fine Reborn," Tsuna says with a quiet smile. "I do have one friend."

"Really?" Reborn perks up.

"She doesn't go to Namimori. She's a private school student. But she's really nice! You should make yourself visible to her, she loves cute things, uh, not that you're cute—"

"Oh?" Suddenly killing intent from the dangerous baby seems to suffocate the building. "Is that what you think, Dame-Tsuna?"

"I—I mean, she'd love you! You're totally adorable! And um. Charming! Yeah!"

"Damn right," and Tsuna breathes out with thanks for his life as Reborn puts down his pistol.

He almost laughs right there, in the middle of the hall, at how strange his life has become (and it's been absurd enough already!) More stares turn his way as he tries to contain his hysterics but he stops when Reborn tells him to shut up and get to eating—"I want to try some homemade bento."

* * *

><p>"You eat here alone every day?" Reborn asks.<p>

Leaning against the fence and watching the baseball team playing around on the ground below, Tsuna nods. "Yeah. It's nice. No one's allowed up here but Sasagawa-sensei likes me and lets me eat here."

She also suspects that Tsuna is being bullied. Which he has denied. Several times. Even if it's true. But it's nice to have a homeroom teacher that cares.

"…and you don't have to deal with other entities here," Reborn steals Tsuna's riceball. "Smart. You're practically a Vongola already."

"Stop it!" Tsuna swipes the last riceball before Reborn can take it. "I'm not like you or dad! I'm not…"

"Not what? Alone? Isolated? Those are the inevitable requirements of a Vongola exorcist. You shouldn't get attached to other humans. You are different by your blood alone. By the nature of your occupation, you will always be separated from other mortals, only connected to those who share your fate," he lets another red flame dance up before Tsuna's face. "You were born to be alone."

There's a hush in his chest, the way the clouds slowly cover up the sun and casts light shadows on the world. Except those clouds were always there and he's always seen them, always known that they would brush away the bright view of his world. But he was happy to pretend otherwise, happy to look only at the sun, even if it blinded him, and hope…

"No," is that his voice? "No, that can't be true."

Reborn gives a long sigh, "Dame-Tsuna, you know it is."

"But I've met someone else who sees them! And she's not Vongola at all!"

Reborn raises an eyebrow. "Well then… there are other groups that can see the world in-between but their blood is not touched by Reapers. They are not as in tune with the dead as you are. They only see shadows. Wisps."

"Still!" the riceball drops from his hands, "Haru is my friend and she wouldn't abandon me, she wouldn't think that I'm…"

_Liarfreakliarliar—_

Reborn studies Tsuna for a moment, looks at the sweat Tsuna can feel dripping from his forehead. "I want to meet her."

Tsuna breaks into a smile that makes Reborn still. "Thank you! You won't regret it, Reborn."

The reaper, oddly, makes no reply but Tsuna concentrates on how tasty the vegetables are in his bento instead and thinks of how he'll apologize to his mum. Things will be fine, they always are after he talks to Haru.

* * *

><p>Ghosts crowd outside of the school gates like always and Tsuna thinks he spots Hibari glaring at students who run too quickly into the street, as he sits up in the trees with his Hibird. But Tsuna is too excited to care for the spirits that seem to quiet when he rushes past them. Reborn just stays on top of Tsuna's head, tightening his grip on Tsuna's hair when they get to the park.<p>

Several mothers are there with their children and they give Tsuna dirty glances when Tsuna shouts, "Haru!" with a big smile. Probably because of Tsuna's unkempt appearance. A lot of people in this neighbourhood like to glare at him. It's probably a sport by now.

Haru is standing on the swings, standing as if on lookout and jumps off with a flourish when she sees him. "Tsuna-kun!" she throws his arms around him and spins them both round.

Tsuna laughs when they stop, "How are you doing?"

"Oh, you know, just hanging around as usual," she points to the swings. She pauses, "Is that a baby on your head?"

"Um…"

"Ahhhh, he's so cute!" she gushes, moving her hands up before she merely waves her hands in front of Reborn and coos. "Hi there, my name is Haru!"

Tsuna can't see Reborn's expression but he feels the reaper still before he says, "Ciaossu. I am Reborn. The world's number one hitman and exorcist."

Haru freezes for a moment before she gives a frightening smile in Tsuna's direction.

"Tsuna…?"

Suddenly Tsuna wishes he was far, far away. Maybe in Singapore. It's nice there, lots of fish. "Uh… yes?"

"_Just what have you been teaching this precious, angel child?!_"

"Ah, nothing, he's not—"

"Children are precious souls! Like untouched snow! They have to be protected, they can't _know_ what we see, they have to stay innocent at costs—"

A shot rings out and Tsuna automatically pushes Haru out of the way. He falls on his knees, hissing at the pain and seeing that mothers rushing their children away from the park. Rushing away from Reborn's shot. Tsuna stumbles back up while Haru's breath seems to hitch at the sight of Tsuna's blood.

"What are you doing, Reborn?! You can shoot me all you want just leave Haru out of this!"

"Innocent at all costs, hm?" the reaper ignores him, narrowing his eyes at Haru from his spot on top of the slide. "Tell me, spirit, how long did you think you could keep up this guise with Tsuna?"

It's as if Tsuna has stepped into a different region, where everyone speaks Japanese but with an unrecognizable accent. He has to shake his head, wants to curl in on himself, but no, Haru needs him. Reborn is, Reborn is—

"Wrong, y-you're wrong. Haru's not… she's not a spirit!"

She can't be. She's normal. She looks normal at least. He doesn't get any weird vibes around her. She's always so happy around him, so happy that her joy seems infectious. When he's with her, the spirits don't come close. They never do, in this park.

(_But why not, Dame-Tsuna?)_

"Haru… Haru tell him that he's wrong…"

But she's not listening to him. She's moving backwards against the ground, face as pale as those that haunt him every day. Suddenly Tsuna can see bits of the gravel through her dress, bits of the swings beyond her face. But still, Haru doesn't look at him. She looks, instead, at Reborn, with a mixture of dark bitterness that Tsuna has never seen in her before.

"So you're a _Reaper_ then," she says and Tsuna feels like someone has thrown his heart into a grinder.

No. No, please.

"Not a child like you," Reborn replies with disdain. His aim doesn't waver, why won't it waver, why can't he just _put the gun down_— "What family has sent you here to manipulate Tsuna?"

Please stop.

"Family?" Haru's smile twists into something alien. "What are you talking about? Tsuna-kun is _Haru's_ friend. He sees Haru. That's all there is to it."

Reborn's hat casts shadows over his face. "If that's all then…" his shadow begins to grow once more, into the adult form from before and Tsuna has to scream out, "_Stop!_" dashing right in front of the bullet and feeling it's fiery breath just seconds before his forehead before he's pulled down once again.

The swings behind them become engulfed in black flames from the bullet. Tsuna tries to remember how to breathe as Haru and Reborn hover above him. He tries to count to twenty. Tries to think of his mum. Of Haru (but oh, he can't breathe again because Haru is not Haru, or is she still Haru, how can she be—) and there's something wailing and it won't shut up.

Oh. It's him.

* * *

><p>When Tsuna was five, he got lost in the supermarket.<p>

There were a surprising number of strange things crawling around the supermarket that would try to attack Tsuna if he talked to them or touched them. Strange giant centipedes. Dogs with limbs sewn to their heads. Cats that had twisted eyes. Tsuna learned quickly as a child to walk with his eyes closed and stick close to Mama, holding her hand. Mama was used to it and chatted happily to Tsuna about what she would cook for dinner or about the new flowers she wanted to purchase.

But she wasn't here now and everywhere Tsuna looked he saw more and more monsters. All he could do was squeak and bump into stands of soup cans and then rush into the next aisle as these displays nearly fell on top of him. He could do nothing but curl up and close his eyes, hoping Mama would find him.

"There, there, dear, don't let those silly creatures bother you," a hand touched his shoulder.

Tsuna sniffed and peered cautiously up from his snot-covered sleeves. He almost expected it to be one of the centipede like things trying to crawl into the opening of his shirt from his collar but it was a kindly smile. An older woman who smelled like Mama, like lilies and the spices from the kitchen. She laughed softly and Tsuna was reminded of the man who was supposed to be called Papa, who visited with a nice old man a few days ago.

He couldn't help but shiver at the mention of those creatures again. "I… I can't… they look at me and…"

She put her arms around him and nodded. "I understand. You don't have to look if you don't want to. I'll take care of you."

Tsuna couldn't help but remember that he wasn't supposed to talk to strangers. Papa told him that every day when he visited.

"Just close your eyes, dear, and I'll take you to your mama," she coaxed him up and at the mention of Mama, Tsuna decided to trust this lady.

He closed his eyes and followed the lady's tugging. He felt lost, like a rowboat without oars being tugged by a nameless stranger that claimed to know the way home. All around him, Tsuna could feel the monsters scuttling back and forth in the supermarket, watching him, waiting for a chance to attack if he should make any move that showed he could see them.

His Mama's panicked voice broke through his thoughts. "Tsuna! Tsuna, there you are! Oh my baby, didn't I tell you not to leave Mama's sight?"

Tsuna opened his eyes and there she was. He almost began crying out of joy.

"I was lost but this nice Granny helped me!"

Mama reluctantly let go of him and asked, "Which Granny, Tsuna? We should thank her…"

"The one right here," Tsuna pointed to the lady still holding his hand.

"Hm?" Mama blinked, "But Tsuna, honey, there's no one there."

He had run away then too, straight into Mama's arms and refused to look at that nice Granny again.

* * *

><p>(He was always running away, wasn't he?)<p>

He hates himself. How could he never notice? He's always been able to 'feel' things about the emotions of ghosts. Wasn't it weird to feel Haru's happiness all the time? No wonder people in the park stare at him… he's been talking to nothing… there's _nothing_ there…

"Tsuna… Tsuna, please talk to me…"

"No…" he curls in on himself, "No, just leave me alone…"

"Don't be an idiot, Dame-Tsuna, we need to check your wounds," Reborn orders and it's only the steel authority in his voice that makes Tsuna sit up. The swings are still burning. But the flames don't spread anywhere else. They just hiss like snakes, seem to lash out towards Haru but Haru, thankfully, floats out of their range.

He doesn't even notice when Reborn is done poking at his scabs and bleeding knees until he blinks and he realizes that Haru has been trying to talk to him for the last few minutes.

"Tsuna, Haru is sorry. Haru didn't want you to find out like this…" she's saying and there might be explanations there. Maybe. More apologies too but Tsuna can't seem to hear them.

He just… he just stares at her. Watches the way the green trees fade in and out through her skin, the way lights seem to pass through her eyes and Tsuna wonders why he never noticed till now. Did Haru do something, has he always been so stupid…?

"…Why…" he begins and Haru quiets, "…why didn't you… just _tell_ me…?"

She doesn't say anything.

"I… I told you all my secrets… you… you know how other ghosts are, I can't… I don't…"

"Exactly!" Haru points wildly at him and this time, Reborn jumps in between them, gun cocked in her direction again. "There! See! Haru _couldn't_ tell you then!"

"Lulling him into a false sense of security?" Reborn says sweetly.

"No, Tsuna please—"

Reborn edges closer to her.

"Or maybe you intended to leech off his vitality…"

"Haru would never… well there was that one time… b-but, honestly, Haru would never hurt Tsuna! Tsuna believes Haru, doesn't he?"

She is suddenly in front of him with such hopeful and eerily bright eyes that Tsuna can't help but remember every ghost he has ever met, every encounter, all the bad, all the times he was shut in his room…

Another click. Killing intent filling the park with heightened intensity.

"I told you stay away from him."

"_No!_" she reaches for Tsuna's hand but Tsuna flinches and her face just… breaks. There's no other way for Tsuna to describe it.

He sees the blood raining down her face. The hole in her forehead, the purple marks around her neck as her smile is stitched up with that dark bitterness from before.

"So it's like this then… huh?"

Tsuna suddenly wants to run again. Back to his house. Back in time. To yesterday.

Reborn shoots and Haru just blinks out of sight and reappears again behind Tsuna, grabbing his arm. "No!" she seems to scowl. "No, you can't take Haru away. Haru doesn't want to go!"

"Haru, stop, what are you doing?!"

Reborn pauses, his shadow growing into that of an adult's again. Tsuna swears he can see flickers of Reborn's small suit twist wildly, as if there is another person within the reaper, trying to claw its way out of this baby's body. But Reborn just glares at Haru, not quite lowering his gun, but not quite ready to shoot either.

"The bullet won't hurt Tsuna," Reborn says and Haru's hold on Tsuna seems to sink into his skin. "He is not like you, spirit. He devours flames."

"No way…" Haru starts to laugh bitterly. "No, that's not true. He's not a reaper. He's not one of you..." her grip is so cold that Tsuna thinks his blood will freeze, before he feels the tremble of his fingers, "…He's Haru's friend…"

Tsuna stops shaking.

"Sh-shoot Haru if you want, but you won't dare hurt Tsuna, Haru knows this!" she stutters, looking like the same girl he first met who stuttered excitedly over cake (which she never ate either, but kept in a box, saying she would eat tomorrow.)

She's translucent in the daylight but her features are the same. Genuine. She's been protecting so much happiness that Tsuna didn't see it till now, how bitter she is. How painful. He sees the bruises, the bullet hole. The blood. He sees her still so cheerful and patient for putting up with someone as useless as Tsuna for the past eight months. Never attacking him. Always here in the park, waiting, keeping the ghosts away so Tsuna wouldn't be afraid.

Afraid.

Oh Haru…

"…Wait…" someone says, soft yet unwavering. And it's not until Reborn lowers his gun just half an inch that Tsuna realizes that it's him. He's saying this. He's the one with a gentle touch on Haru's iron grip and meeting her quivering (no longer as bright) eyes.

"…Tsuna," Reborn warns.

"No Reborn! D-Don't… Don't s-shoot," he says, turning so that he has a hand on Haru's shoulder. He doesn't look away this time. "H-Haru… H-Haru I'm so… so sorry…"

Haru lets go of him.

"S-Sorry… But… but why are you…?"

"You've been waiting here, all this time. That must have been…" he looks at the blood on her face, the bullet wound and wishes he could have met her _sooner_, "…lonely… so…" he thinks he can see it now, a girl watching others pass through her, "lonely."

"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn growls, "don't—"

But that's when Haru bursts out into tears. Face crinkling up into folds of bitterness and grief and just pure… relief. She clings to him, wailing in the way people do when they want to articulate their pain but can't and Tsuna feels as useless as ever, unable to comfort her save for a few awkward pats and useless wishes of _if only_.

"I'm sorry," he says. "I'm so sorry," he says again. Over and over.

Haru wipes her face but there are no tears. Ghosts can't really make tears, can they? Only imitate what they used to know. Even still, she smiles. And Tsuna feels more useless all over again.

"What are you crying for, Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn speaks from above them and Tsuna glares up at him.

"Stop it! Leave her alone, she's just—"

"Lonely? Seeking warmth? Open your eyes, Dame-Tsuna… all ghosts start like her. They look as human as they died, at first, until they're only left with their regrets. Day after day, they'll brood and brood, remember and grow bitterer until they morph into those dark spirits that chase you every day. Even someone like her will succumb to dark thoughts if she lacks the will. She can't stay, Tsunayoshi."

"_No, _Haru's different!" she can cry (or at least feel it) and she can laugh and she is—

"She's not. As a Vongola, you need to exorcise her or subjugate her—"

Tsuna wants to laugh. Exorcise? Like what Reborn did before to those spirits? He can't possibly do something like that!

"Wake up, Tsuna—"

A rock nearly hits Reborn but the Reaper easily deflects it with another bullet with his Chameleon-gun. He sends out a torrent of firepower towards Haru but Haru just reappears directly before Tsuna and shouts, "_You_ wake up, Reaper! You're just a bully! Tsuna is right, Haru would never hurt him like those other things—"

"You already have."

Haru nearly goes entirely transparent while Tsuna shakes his head frantically.

"N-no, she hasn't—"

"Look at your arm," Reborn says coolly. "And maybe your back from where she hugged you."

Tsuna quickly rolls up his sleeves ready to prove Reborn wrong but stops when he sees the black hand prints and red scabs from Haru's fingerprints. He's seen this before when other ghosts would grab him but he never associated it with Haru before… he's always been grabbed before and after he meets her except for today… Reborn was with him all day, protecting him…

"It… it doesn't matter," he's used to this. Haru didn't mean it. They can still—

"Haru..." a quivering voice whispers, "…Haru did this… to Tsuna-kun…?"

Tsuna turns back to where Haru has shrank away, to the burning swings (Why? Why are they still burning?)

"It's fine, I can—"

"_No!_" Haru shouts and the wind seems to whip around her as that bitterness returns to her face. "Haru won't listen to Tsuna's excuses. Haru won't be like _them._" She steps closer to the fire. "Haru is different… and Haru is… Haru is the one who should be sorry!"

"Wait, don't!"

She steps under the burning swings and reaches out with both arms, touching the coiled black flames that slither up to meet her from the railings.

And she burns.

"_HARU!_" Tsuna tries to jump in after her, tries to pull her away but strong arms hold him back and Tsuna can feel Reborn's adult form caging him away from Haru with his hold. Please, he wants to say, stop. And no. No don't. But he's said this so many times that these words seem to have lost their power and he can only…

Her twists out, swallowed by the black flames but she doesn't scream like the other ghosts did. She just turns towards him and gives one last (terrible) smile.

"Sorry Tsuna," no, don't say that, please, no, no, no, "Haru just… Haru just wanted to be friends."

She's fading. Tsuna can barely feel her presence in his soul anymore. The black flames are happy to feast, fading finally with their awarded prey and Tsuna screams.

* * *

><p>Orange. Orange warmth, if warmth could be described as a colour at all. If Haru's laughter and smiles, if the way her happiness felt around him had a colour…<p>

It would be Orange.

* * *

><p>Tsuna awakes, tasting gravel on his lips. When he rolls over, the park is empty save for Reborn sitting pensively by Tsuna's face.<p>

Haru is gone.

Tsuna closes his eyes.

"Stop crying," Reborn says.

How? How can he…? When he…?

"I killed her," he whispers. If he had never brought Reborn here… if he had just noticed she was a ghost sooner, maybe…

"She was already dead," Reborn points out and Tsuna buries his face under his arm.

"This is cruel."

"Oh?" he hears Reborn shuffle closer to him.

"Is this what my father and you do? Kill them? When they're so…"

"So what? _Human_?"

"Shut up!" Tsuna cries out. "You saw her! She felt things. She cried. She laughed!"

"And what about the things that chase you? Are _they_ still human?"

Tsuna has no answer.

Reborn stands up and kicks Tsuna gently in the cheek. "Get up. You still have much to learn. We'll start training tomorrow."

For a moment, Tsuna doesn't move. But then he slowly gets up and mechanically grabs his fallen bag and tries not to think of boxed cake and laughter in the park. She's gone and from the looks of things… only Tsuna and Reborn will remember her last moments. He wipes his face again before pausing to let Reborn hop onto his shoulder.

Reborn doesn't.

If anything, the Reaper has been looking at him with an odd expression ever since he woke.

"Still crying, huh," Reborn murmurs with a shake of his head and Tsuna feels a flash of anger. How dare he? How can Tsuna _not_ cry when Haru is… is…

Well, Reborn isn't quite human, is he?

Tsuna just shrugs.

"…I don't want to do this," he says.

"…_Excuse me?_"

Tsuna winces but says, "I can't… be an exorcist. Not… Not if it means this… I _killed_ her, Reborn! She'll never…"

"Don't be stupid."

"I'm not—"

"You saved her."

"…What?"

"Those orange flames… those were _yours. _You didn't exterminate her, you purified her."

"T-Then, wh-where is she?" The park is still empty. No one on the slide or the swings. No one by the trees or by the parked cars on the street.

Reborn just hops on Tsuna's head and kicks him to go forward.

"Who knows? We just use our flames, Tiny-Tsuna. We don't ask who goes where."

"B-but…!"

Reborn yanks at Tsuna's hair, prompting a loud yelp, "She's fine, Dame-Tsuna."

"B-but you s-said…"

"She's _fine_," Reborn says. "You saved her. That's all you need to know."

Tsuna can't help it. He starts to cry again and this time, Reborn doesn't comment. He just pulls out a handkerchief and throws it down at Tsuna's nose.

_Good job, _Reborn doesn't say and Tsuna doesn't get to hear it.

* * *

><p>"By the way, Dame-Tsuna, I'm still going to train you to be a top-rate exorcist, whether you like it or not. So expect to be up at 5 am tomorrow."<p>

"Hiaaa?! No, just, _no, _get out of my room!"

BANG!

* * *

><p><strong>Night. A confidential correspondence between the Seven.<strong>

-It's happened. I saw them again. The Orange Flames.

-Holy shit! You can't be serious, kora! The last time anyone saw those was with—

-I know.

-Well damn. This changes everything. And it's that Vongola kid? Shit, what's our next move?

-[dark laughter] What do you expect? We can't let the Vongola know. I'll keep training him… but with the methods of the First instead. Tsunayoshi is one of _ours_, after all…


	3. Alone Boy: Child and Monster

AN: Sorry for the late update! I hope you enjoy this next installment! We still have a few episodes to go before Part 2. Thank you for all the reviews everyone!

**Part 1: Alone Boy**

**Episode 3: Child and Monster**

Haru stands before him, drenched in crimson. She's smiling again but it's not the smile that Tsuna knows so well. "Come here," she tells him and Tsuna is trying but he's tripping over a pile of bones, skulls are so terribly slippery. Why can't he reach…?

He falls over a ribcage and coughs up dead dust.

"Hey, what are you doing now, desu?" Haru giggles around him. He can barely see her, the dust keeps stinging at his eyes and…

He coughs, little wisps of orange leaking out from his blood and he tries to wipe it off on his sleeve but this Haru suddenly grips him with that terrible grasp again, looking hungrily at the crimson and the amber wisps.

"Please, Tsuna. Just a little… let Haru have a little and then she will go get cake with you, okay…"

No, part of him wants to shrink away. But this is Haru. She's his only friend. She wouldn't hurt him and she's so cold, surely she wants to be warm, right…?

Pale, Haru's grin suddenly reminds Tsuna of a starving animal's as she leans down with her sharp teeth and—

Orange.

Orange everywhere. The sound of her laughter. The twinkle in her eyes when she spun him around in a hug. Her fierce protectiveness pushes him away from the other Haru, from sharp teeth, burns the other's touch from him, and he can't help but close his eyes and bask in the warm feeling, forgetting all else.

Forget.

For… get?

No. Wait—

* * *

><p>Tsuna gasps, drenched in sweat, tangled up in his blankets with a foul taste in his mouth. When he tries to get up, he realizes that he's in an awkward head-first position, kissing the ground from his bed, just in the midst of falling. With a yelp, Tsuna does just that and hisses at the pain of soon-to-be bruises all over his joints.<p>

He shivers, pulling the blankets tighter around himself. _Please, Tsuna, let Haru have a little warmth_, the dream continues to whisper and Tsuna wishes there was a place to hide from one's thoughts. _I'm sorry_, Tsuna wants to say, but he knows it's useless. He's always doing that. It never changes anything.

"Then why bother saying it?"

"Gah!" Tsuna nearly dives under his bed when he sees eerie black eyes staring back. Inches from his face. The moonlight from his blinds seem to form wispy shapes in Reborn's eyes, another world entirely. "D-don't do that!"

"Do what?" the shadows seem to quiver with Reborn's voice.

"S-sneak up on m-me!"

"Idiot. If you were more observant after waking from your dream, you'd realize that I was sitting by your bedside the whole night. And before you ask, no, I didn't read your pathetic little mind. You spoke out loud."

There are so many things Tsuna wants to address in those statements alone like 'You were watching me sleep, why?!' and 'Stop calling people pathetic! Even if it's true!' and 'You weren't there when I first woke up, I'm _pretty sure_ about that!' but Tsuna settles for just groaning. He doesn't know how he feels about his so-called tutor anymore but if his feelings could be thrown into a blender, the bad and the good, and then served up in soup, perhaps that would be it.

But Tsuna has to talk to somebody (_but why now, Dame-Tsuna, you never have before_.) And Reborn is the only one around to hear it, even if he doesn't give a damn.

"I…" Tsuna speaks, because he feels like Reborn wants him to break the silence first, "I'm always running away."

Hot tears rush up to his eyes, threatening to come out but Tsuna fights them back. No. He has to say this.

"I'm so useless all the time, Reborn… I couldn't help Haru… I know what you said but I don't really _believe _it. How did I help her at all? I didn't know what I was doing. I never do. I just… run and exist. That's it. I know the Vongola hired you to make me some sort of exorcist but I don't think I can do that."

"Don't be foolish," Reborn says lightly but Tsuna can't help but shiver at Reborn's tone nonetheless, Reborn just feels different compared to spirits and humans. "I'm the afterlife's number one hitman. There's nothing I cannot accomplish, even with a weakling like you."

Tsuna feels like ripping his hair out and just burrowing back into his bed, pretending the world doesn't exist. That's not the point, he doesn't say. Of course Reborn isn't going to indulge in Tsuna's sad little problems. They must seem so insignificant to a reaper.

Reborn is only here to make Tsuna an exorcist and protect him from malicious spirits, nothing more. This creature doesn't care for him personally and even if he was human, why would he? Tsuna is nothing.

No, Tsuna won't tell him about the dream with Haru then. It's just that. A dream. And—

"Ow!"

"Enough of your cyclic whining. If you're up then we might as well begin your training. Now drop down and give me fifty push-ups."

"Huh?! What does _that_ have to do with ghosts?!"

Another shot. Tsuna will miss the loose sleeves of his pyjamas, he really will.

"Fool. High stamina is key in all disciplines. With all the running away that you do, this should be child's play."

"Those are leg muscles not arm—"

"Exactly. Train those too. Leave nothing unfit."

"But it's two in the morn—ack! Okay, okay, I'm starting, I'm starting!" Tsuna practically embraces his floor before muttering, "Tyrant."

Alas, Tsuna really needs to stop talking to himself now that he has an invisible tagalong with him.

* * *

><p>His arms are going to fall off. Tsuna honestly can't feel them as he looks up in exhaustion at the huge blackboard Reborn has somehow set up in his room (seriously, how?)<p>

Just as Tsuna is about to nod off, he gets hit in the head with a piece of chalk. Tsuna is too tired to even shriek. Only look up like a traumatized rabbit in a cage.

"Now then…" Reborn smirks, "first order of business is to address your terrible lack of distinction between the dead and the living!"

Tsuna blinks. What now?

"You, Idiot-Tsuna," Reborn's chameleon morphs into a pointer that jabs Tsuna in the stomach, "have a terrible and frankly sad habit of speaking to the dead as if they are living… all because your brain apparently cannot tell the difference between both unless the spirit becomes malicious."

Tsuna stares down at his lap, thinking of Haru and the Granny from the supermarket.

"They just… seem so…"

"Human," Reborn snorts. "Yes. I know. But they're not. This will get you killed and then the First's bloodline will vanish and the Vongola will not allow that to happen. So before you learn _anything _about the flames, I'll be teaching you how to locate the dead."

"I…" Tsuna leans closer, "How?"

Reborn's shadow flickers between adult and child forms once again. He smiles and Tsuna is reminded of ghosts swimming in a river, too caught up in the current to swim out.

"Why… we beat it into you, of course."

"Hieee?!"

Honestly, is this guy even qualified to teach people?

* * *

><p>Reborn's plan (and lecture) goes something like this:<p>

"Yesterday was a reconnaissance of your skills and your first few tests as an exorcist."

Tsuna blinks, wondering when Reborn had time to do any of that.

"Ow!"

"Be more observant," Reborn wipes the chalk from his fingers, "of the living _and_ the dead… and those that exist in between. Your encounter with that ghost-friend of yours should have been a wake-up call to how blind you are. You're so damn emphatic with these spirits and their feelings that you think they're living people if they haven't been too corrupted. We can't have that, especially with the dangers wandering around your school."

"Wh-what are you t-talking about?!" Tsuna tries to recall any scary things he's seen in class lately besides the usual bullies and Hibari. He's never seen anything supernatural there. School, besides home, has always been the safest place for him.

"There are spirits strong enough to be seen by regular mortals. There's one at your school now… and a few other spirits that aren't as strong but could pose a threat in the future," Reborn looks down at his nails and begins, oddly enough, to paint them black. "I wanted to see if you could tell what they were."

Tsuna feels cold inside. All those days in school… enduring all the stares, the jeers and 'accidental' trips down the stairs, thinking that at least this was better than being outside…

"…I wasn't safe after all," Tsuna feels the hollow burning at the back of his eyes. He's probably the only kid in school who can see ghosts and he even fails at that. How has he even survived this long…? Imagine more creepy things clawing for his throat, making him scream in the middle of class…

Tsuna's fingers still.

"Wait, if there are ghosts at my school then why haven't they attacked me?" Tsuna frowns. "You… you tried to—" _kill, no, can't kill what's already dead,_ "—get rid of Haru as soon as you saw her because you said she was dangerous but she never attacked me! Why didn't you… get rid of… the spirits at school too if they're so dangerous to me?"

Reborn's eyes are as eerie as before.

"What do you think, Dame-Tsuna?"

The cold feeling scratches at Tsuna's throat, crawling down and sticking to the edges like creeping mould.

"I think…" his hands tremble, "that if you were really concerned about my safety… you would have exorcised all the supposed spirits at my school too… not just _Haru_… I think, that you wanted to see what I would do, if I found out someone I… cared about… was a ghost."

Tsuna looks back at Reborn again, wishing he could wretch the sickening cold from his body out for the Reaper baby to see. But Reborn just gives one of those enigmatic smiles and Tsuna wants to scream at him to _say something, give me a reason to trust you, please _(but doesn't he already…? Except Haru's face burns in orange in his mind and he thinks that he _can't_—)

"That's right," Reborn's soft voice interrupts his thoughts and Tsuna suddenly wants to be swallowed up by his blankets, never to wake. "I did want to see."

The floor is shaking. No, his fingers are. His body. Tsuna has the urge to run away so that he'll never have to look at this reaper again but where would he run? _I wasn't safe after all_. _Can't bring Haru back_. And there's another voice, quiet and bubbling, whispering, _how could you, how could you, how—_

"But that doesn't mean I don't want you safe," Reborn finishes.

Tsuna chokes a little.

"You're two hundred years too late to question me about my methods," Reborn stands up, suddenly menacing and cool in his tiny form. "Why did I leave the spirits at your educational institution be but burn your _Haru?_ Simple. Their proximity to you."

"What—"

"Close your mouth, idiot," Reborn hops down to tap at Tsuna's chin with the hilt of his gun. Tsuna yelps, putting his hands up to his throat protectively. "Have you not noticed spirits and their obsession with your 'warmth'? The closer they get to you, the more addicted they become, especially if they're weak."

_Come closer to Auntie, little one, I'm so cold; just one hug please…_ speaks the memory of a woman with no eyes in his mind. Tsuna shivers. Yes, he's always noticed.

Reborn just smirks and settles himself on Tsuna's lap, probably smirking because he knows how much Tsuna wants to push him off right now.

"Your _Haru _was weak. Shut up, Dame-Tsuna, she was already on the precipice of corruption before you were approached by her. She would have changed into one of the corrupted from the way she died, if not for her proximity to you. The change became delayed then, but would have come, if she had given in to her hunger."

"But—"

Reborn pinches him. "She would have. It's in their nature. All spirits are dangerous, Tsuna, and you know it."

He thinks of the dream. The Haru that acted like all the other scary spirits that chase him outside and he just bites his lip. _It's not true_, goes unvoiced. Silent.

"Then what about…?"

"The two spirits I sensed at your school are different," Reborn reads his mind. "One has not met you yet and therefore cannot grow hungry for your flame. The other… has an extraordinary sense of self-control that we can use for your training later on… so it's safe, for now, to leave them be. We won't deal with them until you've gained more experience. Besides, _I'm_ the world's greatest hitman and reaper; do you think I'll leave my charge defenseless in a place filled with spirits when I'm training him?"

For the first time, Tsuna feels like maybe he's judged Reborn too quickly and harshly. His tutor is an annoying jerk but he's done nothing but try to protect Tsuna from the things that chase him… Those things _are_ dangerous. They're not like Haru at all and if it's Tsuna's job to make sure they pass on then surely…

"I'm sorry," he says quietly. "I shouldn't have… I'm sorry." To both Haru and Reborn. He's never sure of how to do anything and he wishes he knew. But how can he? He's always running and—

Reborn jumps up and flicks Tsuna in the forehead.

"Ow!"

"It's the nature of the student to question their teachers. How else will you learn anything in life? I'm hundreds of years older than you. I _will_ place you in danger and I _will _be merciless but I promise you that I will never risk your life in a scenario that I cannot control," Reborn's eyes gleam again as he smiles. "After all, you're a valuable commodity for us."

Tsuna, too choked up in emotions to notice, just nods.

* * *

><p>Reborn doesn't get time to explain how Tsuna's new training will work besides the mandatory physical training every morning as Nana knocks on the door and lets them know that breakfast is ready.<p>

She smiles too widely and avoids looking at Tsuna directly, just fusses over Tsuna's hair and gets out his uniform and tie. Spends a little too long putting the tie on him with twitching fingers.

"I'm sorry, Mum!" Tsuna blurts out, when Nana insists on brushing his hair and nearly drops the comb again for the third time. Nana freezes, her smile painted so dry across her tired face. "I shouldn't have said that yesterday. I'm sure you have some sort of reason or something. I shouldn't… I just…"

"Ah, what in the world are you talking about?" Nana's smile, if possible, seems to grow brighter with the heightened soprano of her voice and Tsuna wants to kick himself. If anything, he seems to have made things worse.

"Mum—"

"Ah! How about I cook your favourite for dinner tonight? Hamburgers or maybe some Udon?" she pushes him enthusiastically towards the hall.

Every other attempt at reconciliation is met with more avoiding eyes and much too large portions of rice. His Mum smiles brighter than ever but he can't help but feel lonelier as she refuses to really talk to him.

_I'm the worst,_ Tsuna thinks as he rushes out the door with his bento and a silent Reborn on his shoulder.

Maybe exorcists really are alone.

* * *

><p>"Stop here, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn finally speaks up as Tsuna tries to avoid staring at the creepy spirits poking around him. Reborn has been sending little bursts of black flames towards the persistent ones, despite Tsuna's protests. Of course, Tsuna got a slap for each protest (students should question their teachers, what a hypocrite!) and Reborn muttered something about finding the 'right training wheels', whatever that means.<p>

They're standing near a dumpster about a block from Namimori. Most of the creepier ghosts have dispersed (either from Reborn's glares or getting closer to the school… Tsuna's not sure) so when Tsuna feels something sickening jolt at his heart, like having his fingers grinded under the wheels of a cement truck, he takes a step back.

"You want me to go over there, don't you?" Tsuna sweats.

"Why, Tsuna, you read my mind," Reborn drawls. "Onwards, steed!" he points at the source of Tsuna's unease, the dumpster.

Tsuna gulps, each step heavy with the weight of intense pain. It's not just the sensation of his fingers being crushed now but his arms and then his legs too and Tsuna almost can't breathe because he doesn't want to look into the dumpster, no, he can't—

Reborn takes that decision away from him by shooting the lid of the dumpster off (how? Tsuna has stopped questioning him, honestly) and yanks at Tsuna's hair to get Tsuna to peek in.

The stench of left out old sushi and ramen packages hits Tsuna first, along with rancid beer and he-really-doesn't-want-to-know. His eyes water and Tsuna looks down at ripped garbage bags and spinning flies. The painful feeling at his heart heightens, like a loud sensor trying to jump up and down, screaming at him to look away but—

The feeling vanishes.

And Tsuna just sees a _child_, a little boy maybe three or four or younger (oh god) curled up amongst the garbage bags as if they are pillows. And Tsuna lets out a sob.

"This… I can't…" He needs help, Tsuna thinks, reaching out to the child but Reborn shoots and Tsuna yanks his hand away with a shout. "Hey, what are you doing?!"

"Look carefully," Reborn orders and Tsuna turns back to look at the child who has woken.

The child who looks at Tsuna with the same hunger as other spirits have, as Haru (_dream Haru, just dream Haru, _his mind screams) has, and Tsuna _knows_.

He falls backwards, tumbling down on the cement, feeling the numb stings race through his nerves. But the child has crawled out and is racing towards him, teeth suddenly elongating, eyes becoming yellow and growing _horns_ of all things—

Reborn grabs the child by the scruff of his fluffy, broccoli-like hair and puts something that looks like a collar lit up in blue lights around the child's neck, making him scream.

"_What_ are you doing?!" Tsuna rushes over to pull the child away but Reborn slaps his hands away.

"_This_ here," Reborn gestures to the ghost child who seems torn between trying to gnaw off his new collar and gnaw at Tsuna, "is your new set of training wheels."

"_Eh?!_" and then, "What are you talking about?!"

"Exactly what I mean," says Reborn, looking too pleased, "training wheels for you to practice sensing spirits."

Tsuna stares at the little child (ghost… creature… thing) struggling like a fish on a hook from Reborn's collar. The child's face flickers between toddler to wild animal as fast as the beat of dragonfly wings. But each time Tsuna sees the hungry desperation in those eyes (_please let me have warmth_), he finds he cannot look away.

"No."

Reborn's hat tilts down and Tsuna feels a chill. "No?"

"I… I can't… it's, well, he's…" Haru's face burns up in orange in his mind, "He's a child."

A shot shoots past Tsuna's hair and he feels a streak of red slip down his chin.

"No. He's a _spirit_. A thing that you should learn to take seriously lest he shoot you in the back. Now," Reborn steps closer and Tsuna can't help but cringe against the brick wall, "you're going to stop questioning my methods and hopefully your little brain actually absorbs what I cram in there because it will _save your life_. First, _stop trusting spirits._ Second, _practice your sensing_."

One of these days, Tsuna is just going to skip the screaming and get to the running. But today, he screams again when Reborn throws the ghost at him.

* * *

><p>He finds himself literally roped with a miniature ghost tagalong. Literally. A thin ribbon of blue tied around his wrist, like a laughable version of the red string of fate, connects him to the collar of the vicious little child-ghost they've picked up. So far, Tsuna has struggled between sprinting and freezing up randomly in the halls, hoping that if the child-ghost just sniffs him than maybe he will go away. Eventually.<p>

Except for the string that connects him, right, can't forget about that.

He's tried sprinting, but the child-ghost just chases after him as well, encouraged by his running, or Tsuna might run too fast and end up dragging a ghostly body behind him and then stop from more guilt (Reborn usually shoots at both of them when this happens.)

"Act like a mortal," Reborn lectures from on top of Tsuna's head. "Walk as you normally do."

"Like that's any better," Tsuna grumbles. His normal walking is usually sprinting and cringing randomly behind corners. Most of the students and staff are used to it by now, side stepping Tsuna when needed. This _is _normal for him.

For the tenth time, Reborn pinches his scalp. He's _definitely _a mind reader, that one.

Tsuna spares another nervous glance at the ghostly-child trailing behind him. For now, the ghost-child is just muttering and scowling to himself, biting at his fingers while glaring hatefully at Reborn and looking hungrily at Tsuna. Tsuna shivers, fighting back the urge to flinch away again, instead studying the ghost-child a little more.

He's never seen a child dressed in a cow-print one-piece before. The horrid yellow colour of his pyjamas fades in and out with the bland walls of the school, half transparent and half opaque. The child flickers in and out between the images of twisted bull-like creature and toddler so often that Tsuna wonders if he doesn't remember which he is anymore…

"He's a Fluctuation right now."

"Huh?" Tsuna blinks up as Reborn leans back against Tsuna's hair.

"A Fluctuation. Flickering between the appearance of a humanoid spirit and one of the Corrupted. All it will take is one push and that thing will become Corrupted, another monster feeding on people's vitality," Reborn says, "perfect for your training."

Tsuna's eyes widen as Reborn smacks two markers against his cheek.

"You will mark your hands with a red mark and the minute of when you feel that thing become corrupted _every single time_. Likewise, you will put a blue mark and the time of when you feel that thing's presence fade out. That's when it fluctuates back into a humanoid spirit," Reborn hops to Tsuna's shoulder and tugs at the blue string. "Tomorrow I will move your training wheels a little farther away, and the next day farther, and you will practice stretching out your senses until you can tell me exactly where this thing is, right to the smallest millimeter."

Admittedly, Tsuna's jaw drops a little. He glances at the child-ghost that has put on the face of the bull-monster again, chewing on the string and getting electrocuted every time he does so.

"But—"

"Right to the smallest millimeter, Tsuna, or you might find yourself dangling off a rooftop when you try to sleep tonight."

_Can you really do that, _Tsuna almost asks. But Reborn just smiles darkly at him and Tsuna believes that his tutor could probably do _anything_ if he felt like it.

* * *

><p>Sasagawa-sensei's words drip into Tsuna's ears but Tsuna can barely feel them as his hands quiver every time he marks his wrists with another red or blue mark of ink. By now, he has veins and stitches of marks all the way up to his elbows, numbers and different times (nine o'clock, half past nine, quarter past nine…) all meshed together in an incomprehensible soup of murky purples with darts of red and blue sticking out.<p>

He's nearly dropped his markers over a dozen times by now and his math notebook is woefully empty of notes. The child-ghost gnawing at his ankle just keeps fluctuation but thankfully doesn't actually _eat_ Tsuna's leg because Reborn keeps flicking little flames at him. Still, each time the child-ghost gets burned, he gives Reborn such loathing growls that Tsuna wishes he could press himself against the glass and disappear.

The other students are staring at him oddly, snickering about another freaky thing that Odd-Tsuna is doing. Tsuna's surprised they haven't told Sasagawa-sensei about the marker all over his arms yet but Reborn has that gleam in his eyes that tells Tsuna perhaps the marker can't be seen by adults… Maybe his classmates are just laughing at him for not writing his notes and seemingly writing nothing at all on his skin. Maybe.

The bell rings, making Tsuna almost fall from his seat. His leg jolts out, kicking the child-ghost over and Tsuna automatically catches the child-ghost in his hands, shouting. "Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to kick you!"

Everyone in class gives him weird looks, either laughing or edging away from him for his 'random' outburst.

Tsuna just pulls the child-ghost closer to him, feeling the child tremble coolly, like earthquakes trapped in ice, against him. To them, the people walking away from him, he might as well be cradling the air.

Reborn kicks Tsuna in the shoulder. "Drop it."

Tsuna blinks, "Huh?"

"The thing you're holding. Drop it."

Tsuna looks down at the trembling child-ghost, noticing how he has stopped fluctuating for now. Holding his breath as a human face. Such a small face. Staring at Tsuna with incredulity and something else…

"Ah, a-are you o-okay?"

_He's a ghost Tsuna, _he can already hear Reborn begin to lecture, but Tsuna's grown tired of hearing the child-ghosts scary growls and sad little whines. He can't _not_ hold him, even for a little while. The child-ghost is just that… a child.

On the table, Reborn's shadow flickers like a wild flame, eager to come out.

But as suddenly as the child-ghost becomes a human face, he switches back to the bull-monster's again, biting at him, "_I don't need your help! Just give me warmth!_"

Tsuna nearly drops him then, in shock and fright, but part of him screams that he can't drop a child of all things and so Tsuna holds on, even when the kid bites at his fingers.

"H-hey _stop that!_" Tsuna shouts, before Reborn can shoot.

When the child actually stops, Tsuna doesn't know what to say. Luckily, the child-ghost seems more talkative and scowls, "Why should I?" His face goes back to a human's again for half a moment, before settling back to the monster's face.

For a moment, Tsuna doesn't know what to say (he never does, how can he? He's so useless, always running, why can't he find the right thing to say—) but when he sees Reborn's gun from the corner of his eye he quickly spills out, "B-because it's r-rude!"

The child stares at him.

"Y-yeah! B-because it's r-rude! You can't just… just d-demand something like that, y-you have to ask! And if someone s-says no, then you have to leave it alone!"

What was it Haru used to say? Oh right, children are pure (or at least they should be) and if Haru can't be here to help this child than Tsuna should and—

He can feel Reborn's burning stare but he refuses to look back, only focusing on the perplexed child.

"The great Lambo wants it though," the child says darkly, shattering Tsuna's hopes. "But…" the child adds, "if it's for this Onii-san then the great Lambo will not ask again today. Tomorrow, he will ask again. Now give me a reward!"

The silence in the classroom seems to ripple in disbelief.

"I…" _it actually worked? _Tsuna can't help but hug the child closer. "Sure! When I get home, we can watch cartoons… um, after I train-and-do-homework-please-don't-kill-me-Reborn?"

His tutor's gaze could melt the toughest of steel but something loosens.

"Are you going to forget _everything_ I told you about spirits, Dame-Tsuna?"

Tsuna closes his eyes, seeing the hungry Haru from his dreams and the bull-faced Lambo, both of them asking for warmth.

_Spirits are dangerous._ Yes, he knows that. He's an idiot and he knows that but—

"Can't I just… try to do things my way for a bit? At least some of them? Lambo… he can't hurt me, right? He's stuck to this leash and you're with me, Reborn. You said so yourself that you wouldn't put me into any danger you couldn't control. At least with Lambo, let me try to figure out where I stand with spirits… please?"

Reborn studies him for a moment before he turns and the shadows hide his eyes under his hat.

"That _Lambo_ is your training wheels; you can do with him what you wish when I do not require him for your training. But only until then, Dame-Tsuna."

Maybe it's the dream or the child or seeing Reborn in baby form, but Tsuna throws his arms around his tutor in a hug (where Reborn pushes Lambo away faster than a lion throws down an opponent in disdain) murmuring, 'thank you, thank you, thank you' before he freezes in shock and rushes out of the classroom, dragging Lambo with him.

He doesn't notice Reborn's calculating smile as he leaves.

Nor does he see Sasagawa-sensei, a contemplative frown on her lips as she sees her student talking to nothing once again…

"Sawada Tsunayoshi… maybe he can help Ryohei-nii…"

* * *

><p>"Lambo wants grape candy!"<p>

"Um, I don't think that's a very good idea. Too much candy is bad for you," plus Lambo probably can't eat it anyways. Then again, Tsuna used to buy cakes for Haru and she never ate them either but she was happy to get them. Maybe it would be alright…?

Lambo frowns and just tugs at Tsuna's sleeve.

They make an odd pair (well, they would if anyone else could see Lambo.) Tsuna holds Lambo against his chest as he goes to towards the rooftop stairs, promising Lambo that he'll read him some manga later. Lambo keeps shifting faces back and forth in between his excited cheers. The bull-monster face still freaks Tsuna out but it's not like Lambo can control it…

Tsuna's face collides with something and before he knows it, he's falling hard against the floor, turning his body so Lambo can't feel it (_but he's a ghost Tsuna, he can't feel anything anymore—_)

"Ow…" he rubs his head and blinks at the other body on the floor across from him. "Y-Yamamoto-san?! Oh my god, are you alright?"

He goes over to help his classmate up but Lambo darts in front of him, teeth bared and fierce as lightning—

"How _dare you_ attack Tsuna!"

—oh no, "Lambo stop," he hisses while looking up at Yamamoto and smiling shakily, "Wow, I'm so clumsy… I should really stop running around the corner… a ha ha…"

Yamamoto blinks at him for a few moments, his expression blank before recognition seems to seep in and he gives a false smile, "Ah, don't worry about it, Sawada. I should have been able to catch myself anyways…"

"Oh, well," Tsuna grabs onto Lambo's collar and hides the child behind him, though it comes out as more him swiping at the air and being fidgety, "I don't know about that… everyone falls down, right?"

Yamamoto's clenches his jaw but he puts his hands behind his head.

"I should get to practice," he grins but his eyes are elsewhere, to the windows, the pitch.

Tsuna blinks, "Oh, of course! Sorry for holding you up! Um, I hope practice goes well for you and that you don't get too tired!"

Yamamoto narrows his eyes but his grin remains fixed in place, a contradiction of sunshine and empty ice. "Tired?"

"W-well, I just, not that you're slacking off or anything, I just notice that you sleep a lot in class and you seem tired a lot so I hope that practice cheers you up instead of making you more tired, sorry?" Tsuna winces. There should be a new law passed down by the gods that Tsuna should walk around with tape over his mouth and not be allowed to speak.

Maybe he should make a tactical retreat.

Behind him, Lambo squirms some more. "I don't like him! You should let me eat him and then you won't have to worry about people bullying you anymore—"

"_Stop, I'm not being bullied by him,_" Tsuna hisses quickly to the ghost before giving another shaky laugh to Yamamoto who (oddly enough) hasn't left yet.

"You know…" Yamamoto says slowly.

"Uh," Tsuna presses Lambo to his back, "yes?"

"…you're a nice guy, huh, Sawada," Yamamoto exclaims, as if he's discovered a new favourite food.

"What—"

Quickly, Yamamoto ruffles Tsuna's hair and grins, _really grins_, before dashing off, "I'll be fine! Later, Sawada!"

Tsuna stares at the void left by Yamamoto, his cheeks burning. "…Bye," he whispers, and then, "Wait. Isn't it too early for baseball practice? It's only lunch!"

Yamamoto, Tsuna muses, must be really dedicated to baseball.

* * *

><p>"Why didn't you let me eat him?!" Lambo explodes when they get to the rooftop.<p>

"Lambo you can't just eat people!" Tsuna shushes him. He's also pretty sure that ghosts, corrupted or not, can't physically harm living beings unless they're like Tsuna. Reborn hasn't exactly explained how that works yet but from what Tsuna's seen, if ghosts _could_ physically eat people, his neighbourhood would be empty by now.

Maybe it has something to do with the 'warmth' spirits are so obsessed with?

"Why not?! I'm hungry!"

"Because that's not what nice kids do!"

"Well Lambo is _not_ a good boy, Lambo just wants to help Tsuna because he was nice to Lambo but now Lambo sees that Tsuna is just a jerk!"

If this is even a sliver of what raising children is like, then Tsuna needs to start making offerings to his mother every day. Maybe then, her smile will go back to the way it was before…

Tsuna has to close his eyes before he crouches down to be on the same level as Lambo. "Listen, if you attack another person without good reason then you are in the wrong."

"Lambo doesn't care!"

"Look, if you don't then Reborn is just going to get rid of you after my training is done, is that what you want?!"

Lambo stills, lip trembling as his little body seems to flicker with the sunlight that fights through the clouds. He looks so small then, smaller than he already is, like a wisp of a babe about to flicker into dust.

"I—"

"Lambo is sorry," comes the small whisper. "Lambo doesn't want to go away. Please don't leave."

Tsuna feels a painful knot gather in his throat as he reaches out to the little child. (_Remember what I told you, _Reborn's voice taunts him, _they aren't human_. But Reborn, Tsuna wants to argue ever since Haru, they're lonely, aren't they? What does that mean?)

"I'm not mad. Just upset," he says. "I wish I knew why you think like this… what happened to you, Lambo? I don't want you to become corrupted… I don't want you to…" _Haru just wanted to be friends_, "…to disappear."

In his arms, Lambo is quiet. There's an animalistic glint to his eyes and half of his mouth has sharp teeth peeking out but the fluctuations are not as sharp as before. More gradual now, sand dripping in an hourglass.

"Lambo doesn't remember his family very well. Lambo had a mama… but she went away… She told Lambo to wait for her and Lambo waited… and waited… but…" the sharp teeth dip into shadow, black streaks come down Lambo's face as he shivers, "…L-Lambo w-waited, he, he was a good boy… Lambo waited and…"

No, Tsuna doesn't want to hear this, it's too cruel—

"…it was so cold."

The knot in Tsuna's throat seems to sharpen into a sob. "I'm so sorry," he throws his arms around Lambo and holds him close, wishing he wore more layers under his uniform, wanting to will away the memory of cold. "I'm so sorry you had to remember that and that it's what you fixate on now. I'm sorry that I'm using you and that Reborn is threatening you and I'm so sorry that you died, Lambo. _I'm sorry_."

If Lambo was alive, with a real body, he'd be stiff. Bewildered at the hug, Tsuna thinks, unused to them. And that thought only makes Tsuna tighten his grip, feeling the pin prick frost sensation against his arms and cheek. It doesn't matter if it's cold anymore, it can't compare to what Lambo's gone through.

Lambo, who is looking at Tsuna with wide trembling eyes.

"I promise…" he says quietly, "I'll help you stay uncorrupted for as long as possible. And even if you become corrupted, I won't run away. I'll help you find peace, Lambo."

"…And… and if Lambo doesn't want to leave yet…? If Lambo wants to stay…?"

"Then you can stay. For as long as you need to. I'll do everything I can to help, I promise. I won't leave," Tsuna swears.

It's as if Tsuna has recited the magic words to open the heavens because Lambo's stare just lights up in awe before the child is clinging back, his touch no longer as cold as before. Just numb and tingling with Tsuna's promise.

Maybe Reborn told Tsuna otherwise, but Tsuna still feels like he couldn't save Haru. Maybe this time, he can save someone and maybe… maybe Haru's out there, watching. Hopefully watching and proud.

* * *

><p>They walk home in a dead silence, pun intended. Ghosts seem to trail around Tsuna with more interest now that they see Lambo and Tsuna tied together by a long blue string. But every time they come near Tsuna, Reborn either shoots them or they get shocked by the string while Lambo taunts them for trying to touch his 'Tsuna-nii.'<p>

Reborn raises an eyebrow at the endearment.

"I thought I told you not to get close to them again, Dame-Tsuna."

He flinches under the reprimand but doesn't look away from Reborn's stare (though he wishes he could duck under a blanket, he really wants to.)

"…I know. But, last time, with Haru, you didn't even give a chance… and…"

"Are you _arguing_ with me, _Tsuna_?" the baby breathes and somehow, his voice seems deeper than thunder trapped in a storming ocean.

"I…! No! I mean, yes! I mean, I'm sorry, but I have to try and see if all ghosts are really as dangerous as you say, Reborn! I don't think Haru would have hurt me. I think you were… you were wrong, yesterday. And you're wrong right now! Lambo might be… fluctuating or whatever but he's still a child! He still understands right and wrong if you explain it to him!"

"So what will you do?" Reborn snorts. "Institutionalize all the spirits you meet? Teach them to be human again? Then what? Will you let them all live with you? Where will they go?"

Tsuna feels his face going red. "They can leave if they want to, try to move on. I think… I think there has to be a better way of doing this than using those flames… there has to be…"

Reborn yanks at Tsuna's cheek, making Tsuna tear up.

"_You_… are too soft."

Reborn's shadow flickers again, the adult shadow seeming to fight its way out of the little shadow once more and Tsuna feels another wave of _how stupid of me, why did I argue, what was the point_, when—

"I won't help you with this," Reborn's voice interrupts. "I will continue instructing you in the true method of exorcism but I won't prevent you from taking the measures you wish against the spirits you encounter unless they prove to be a direct threat to your life."

Tsuna stares in disbelief, stares perhaps for so long that Reborn kicks him in the face.

"Don't look so sloppy. It's unbecoming of one of your blood."

"But you—"

"I won't say it again. You should be more vigilant, Dame-Tsuna."

He can't help it then, he laughs, laughs even though the pain in his throat hurts. Laughs when Lambo threatens to beat up Reborn for 'making Tsuna-nii cry.' Laughs because if he had argued with Reborn earlier, better, would Haru still be here now?

* * *

><p>Later, watching Lambo clutch a bag of grape candy like it's a treasured toy, Tsuna creeps over to his mum in the kitchen and gives her an impromptu hug.<p>

Nana nearly drops her spoon into the pot, hands suspended, not quite hugging back but too practiced not to try.

"Tsuna!" she says pleasantly, "What was that for?"

"Nothing," he doesn't look up as he rubs his wet eyes against her apron. "Just… I know you must have had your reasons for not telling me about the spirits, so I don't blame you."

This time, Nana does put the spoon down on the counter.

"Tsuna…"

"I wish that you had talked to me anyways about it, but that can't be helped. I can't promise that I won't be trouble because of it later but I just… I'm glad you're my mum."

Blushing furiously, Tsuna lets go and darts to the stairs, escaping Nana's stunned expression.

* * *

><p>"…By the way, Dame-Tsuna… did you put a mark on your hand for <em>every. Single. Time. That. Thing. Fluctuated?<em>"

"…Um. Er… No…?"

"Tsuna?"

"Please-don't-shoot-me-I-have-homework."

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

"Drop and give me fifty sit-ups."

"_Don't shoot at Tsuna-nii—!"_

"Ah! Lambo, don't just charge through the walls, you'll get hurt!"

* * *

><p><strong>Night. A Conversation between the Seven Reapers.<strong>

-So how did he do with sensing today, kora?

-He's formed an attachment to _the thing_ used as his training wheels. I'll be testing the range of his senses over the week starting tomorrow.

-Hmmf! He's keeping a pet ghost? That's not very profitable for him. He should have made it into a guardian, made it submit to his whims.

-H-hey, g-go easy on the kid, s-sempais! It's not e-easy to s-subdue a s-spirit and m-make it your s-servant, you know!

-Easy for the only reaper without spirit servants to say.

-H-hey!

-That's not the point.

-What do you mean, kora?

-He has a… strange affinity for spirits… I need to observe him further.

-Strange? How so? Hello? Reborn?

[dial tone]

-God damn it, kora, I hate it when he does that!


End file.
